Press Statement By Julian Tan:
Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) reason for holding the 12th state election this year is just an excuse of putting their political interest above the lives and health of Sarawakians.
The argument that the vaccine will wane off after seven months, thus the need to expedite the state election this year, does not make any sense. Since we already had the means to administer the single booster shot in record time. Again, not all Sarawakians will reach the ‘7 months wear off period’ at once since there are those who took their double doses up till late October this year. Unless the state government do not have the will to administer the single booster shot given the vast options and means to do so quickly.
With the current new COVID-19 variants spreading too quickly, the latest calculation from experts now raised the herd immunity threshold against COVID-19 to be at least 80%. We only crossed the 70% mark a few days ago in Sarawak, short of the 80%. There is no surprise why the “less testing, less infection” strategy does not work. The resulting ‘lower number of cases’ clearly contradicts the number of hospitalizations in Sarawak. As of 20th October, Sarawak is the 3rd highest in Malaysia after Selangor and Klang Valley, a 16% increase (442) over the past 7 days. ICU utilization is at 81.3%, the highest in the whole country.
Let us not deprive more than the 660’000 new voters of their right to vote, especially the 135’000 18 to 20 years old voters. They will be eligible to cast their votes after December 2021. We are building the future for our next generation; therefore, it is only right for us to include them in deciding how the state should move forward.
Julian Tan
Special assistant to YB Chong Chieng Jen
2021-10-24
